Julian Potter and the Mermaid Pearl
by quixotickvinne
Summary: Five generations after Harry James Potter, the american Julian Potter discovers she's actually scottish, a wizard, and a decendant of Harry. DH Spoilers. Chapter 3 is up! Please R&R!
1. Chapter One

_**Hello all . . . The following is a story I just began, and with the help of you (my readers) will hopefully be able to turn into something great. Please read and review (suggestions, criticism etc. is all welcome and needed!) and don't forget. . . . J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter/Hogwarts etc. but all original characters are mine. ****Enjoy!**_

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**Julian Potter and the Mermaid Pearl**

**Chapter One**

The shutter on my window, snapping open and shut with a loud bang each time it hit the sill is what ultimately woke me up, forcing me into an upright position.  
It was still pretty dark, though already morning, and the storm outside with its high winds and rain whipping around my front yard was a sort of lullaby for me and I had left my window open that night, shutter firmly in place on the outside to keep the rain from pelting my bedroom floor.  
I could sleep through just about anything, but somehow the latch had come loose on the shutter and I was forced to climb out of bed and re-latch it.  
Winds and rain were one thing, but the smashing of an innocent window sill was not the sort of thing I could sleep through.  
I turned back around, shutter firmly in place again, and nearly jumped out of my skin.  
Sitting on the end of my bed, talons clutching the metal frame of my iron bed, huge yellow eyes blinking in the faint light of my alarm clock, was an owl.  
Steel grey feathers puffed up to ward off the rain drops scattered over his small body.  
He held an envelope in his beak, stamped with a large red seal bearing the crest of four animal heads.  
He cocked his head sideways as if to say, "what are you waiting for?", so I reached out and took the envelope from his beak.  
"This is crazy." I muttered to myself, opening the envelope and pulling out two sheets of folded paper despite the strange feeling all of this was bringing my still half-asleep mind.  
I un-folded the first and read:

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry  
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore  
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Miss Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.  
We realize that you have missed quite a bit of your education thus far, but please be assured we are making everything ready for you to be able to catch up as quickly as possible.  
Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.

Yours sincerely,  
Minerva McGonagall,  
Deputy Headmistress

I stared at the parchment for a good 60 seconds after I finished reading it. Excitement bubbled up inside of they be serious? I sat down on the bed and read the letter again.  
My parents had died when I was two and I had been living in a foster home in the US ever since, until three months ago, when we got a telegram from my father's mother Elizabeth Potter (which was very odd since everyone said I had no living relatives, let alone a namesake) that had somehow popped up in northern Scotland and had been (as she later told me) as shocked to find out I existed as I was to find out about her.  
I was relieved to know there was still someone in the world that had the same blood coursing through their veins as I did,  
and happily accepted her invitation for me to come live with her.  
I took a plane to Glasgow and then one all-too-short train ride later I arrived in the miniscule little town of Aberfeldy. Grandma Lizie's birthplace and residence.  
She was a nice old lady, nearly 100 years old (although still surprisingly fully active and healthy looking, not a walking stick in sight), and quickly filled me in on my interesting family history. I had always felt a bit out of place growing up, and the reason why became very clear when she explained my literally magical origin parent-wise. My father had been born in this very town, stayed in the very same house I was in now, and was, to put it bluntly, a wizard.  
My mother was what the wizarding world calls a muggle (a non-magical person), and my father had met and married her after running away to America to get away from his wizard father who (as Lizie put it) "was as a controlling a man as ever walked the earth". He never told my mother about his magical heritage, or any of his heritage for that matter, and Lizie said when they died there was no record of who his parents were or where he had come from, leaving no way for them to notify her.  
I was shocked, of course, to realize that since my father was a wizard, that meant I was magical too and when Lizie had told me about Hogwarts and The Ministry of Magic and the details of what it meant, I was filled with all sorts of questions.  
I was almost fifteen, and according to Lizie's explanation of Hogwarts I had already missed four years of school, and I really didn't think they would send for me to start. But there it was. Sitting my hand. My letter. I couldn't wait until Lizie woke up and I could tell Lizie and get her help to go to London to Diagon Alley and get my supplies.  
I wasn't sure what I needed to say, but I scribbled a quick "I am very excited to see you all in September and will be there eager and ready to learn. Signed, Jules Potter" on a piece of parchment paper and tied it in a roll to the owls leg with some ribbon from my desk (Lizie had explained to me that this was how wizards sent messages), and let him back through the shutter into the wind and rain and watched him fly away into the semi-darkness.


	2. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two**

Not too long after the sun rose, and unable to stand it any longer, I raced down the creaking, antique stairs to the lower level. "Lizie! Lizie!" I squealed, throwing open the two huge doors that led to the master bedroom, light flooding into the room from the window in the hallway. "You will never guess what I just got!" I took a flying leap and landed on the bed on the other side of my grandmother. Her eyes flew open when I hit the bed. "What in heavens name are you going on about, child?" She said as she attempted to sit up in her half asleep state. "I got my letter! I'm going to Hogwarts!"

I squealed again and gave the bed a little bounce. Lizie smiled, "Well, congratulations Julian. I knew you would. I wasn't sure what they'd make of you being as old as you are already, but it looks like they worked it out just fine. Now, run back upstairs and get dressed, then we'll have some breakfast and take you over to Diagon Alley . . . you can never get too much of a head start on gathering all your supplies." I nodded and bounced back onto the floor, making Lizie grin at my obvious excitement and raced back up the stairs to get dressed.

Two excruciatingly long hours later, breakfast consumed and travel cloaks donned, Lizie and I stood side by side facing her enormous fireplace. "Ready?" she asked, grasping my hand as we stepped into the fireplace and were surrounded by a cloud of emerald smoke as Lizie threw a handful of floo powder to the ground and shouted "Diagon Alley!" I felt a sudden, strange jerking sensation and before I knew it I was tumbling out of a fireplace in a little cafe on Diagon Alley.

Lizie and I dusted ourselves off as best we could and made our way out of the shop and onto the bustling street. Despite the early hour, there were people everywhere, going here and there, all dressed in wizard robes and cloaks, toting packages and baskets and all sorts of things. There were dozens of shops lining the narrow street and it was all I could do to take everything in and not explode from excitement.

"First things first." Lizie said, starting out towards the massive, white building ahead with the words "Gringotts Bank" etched into the marble above the entry doors. Reaching the double bronze doors, and the goblin sentry dressed in a red and gold uniform, we walked through to the next set of silver doors bearing the famous warning to anyone dumb enough to try and play thief while inside. I was awestruck at the sheer size of the place, and barely noticed that we had reached one of the many counters that filled the massive front room. "What can I do for you today?" The small, rather grizzly looking goblin from behind the counter asked us, almost glaring as he peered at us from behind his gold rimmed spectacles. "Vault number two twenty three, please." Lizie said, sliding a tarnished gold key across the counter.

Several minutes later, we were pressed together inside a tiny cart headed for the vault beneath bank. The ride was fairly short because Lizie's vault wasn't very deep, but the speed of the whole thing was impressive and a bit unnerving. I clutched the sides of the cart to keep my balance, but it didn't do much good.

By the time we reached the vault and exited the wooden ride, my legs felt like Jell-O from trying to hold myself upright. The goblin inserted the key and when the vault door swung open, Lizie said to me, "Julian Marier Potter, your inheritance." My mouth dropped open. Inside were at least twenty large stacks of gold galleons, and dozens of smaller stacks of silver and bronze sickles and knuts.

"What do you mean, my inheritance?" I stammered. "This is all mine?" Lizie nodded. "Julian, this vault contains the life savings of three generations of Potters. It has been passed down from father to son for nearly one hundred years. This was your great grandfather's vault, my late husband Alexander's father Henry. Then it became Alexander's after he passed, then your father Rupert's, and now it is yours. You are his only living heir since you have no brothers. Traditionally, you wouldn't be able to recieve you inheritence for another two years, but education is something that must be taken very seriously and one must have the means to purchase supplies." She smiled and winked at me, and I grinned. Filling up a small velvet bag that Lizie had tucked into the pocket in her cloak, we exited the vault and made our way back to the surface.

"Where to next?" I asked Lizie as we stepped back out into the sunlight of Diagon Alley. I pulled my letter with the list of supplies out of my pocket and studied it. We decided to start with the most important supply on the list, and quickly made our way down the street to a shabby little shop on the right. A sign above the door declared "Ollivader's Wands. Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C."

The shop bell clanged as we entered and a willowy looking young man with the same moon-like eyes that ran in his family walked out from behind a shelf filled with narrow boxes.

"Good afternoon!" he sad cheerily, smiling and nodding at us. "Welcome to Ollivander's. Are we buying a wand today?" Before I had the chance to answer, he had whipped four boxes off the shelves and fast as lightening, had the wand from the first box out and in my hand. "Eleven inches of vine wood and unicorn hair. A bit snappy, if I do say so myself. Give it a wave." He said, still smiling and nodding. I waved the wand, a bit cautiously, but nothing happened. He snatched it back and just as quickly had another in my hand. "Birch and phoenix feather. Ten inches. Quite flexible." I swished it from left to right. Nothing. "Hmm . . ." The shop keeper said, turning back to the shelves and quickly scanning the narrow boxes, none of which bore any labels, as if he could see straight through the cardboard shells.

"AHAH!" He yelled, making both Lizie and me jump. "Holly and dragon heartstring. Ten inches. Very bendy." He held it out, and I carefully grasped the end. The minute my hand hit wood, I felt it. This was my wand. A flick of wrist produced a shower of tiny blue stars to burst from the end. The young Ollivander burst into applause. "Very good, yes, very good indeed!" I rolled my eyes at his over enthusiasm, but couldn't stop myself from smiling right along with him.

For the first time in my life, I felt like a real wizard.

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_**That's it for now . . .  
**__**Please send me a quick review and let me know what you think :)  
(**__**any changes needed, corrections, thoughts, etc.)  
**__**Thanks for reading!**_


	3. Chapter Three

**_Hey guys, just a heads up . . . I changed a tiny bit of the last chapter. Nothing story altering, but if you want, you can go back and re-read the conversation with Lizie and Julian about her family. And now . . . on to chapter three!_**

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**Chapter Three**

We finished our shopping over the next two hours. There was so much to take in, we strolled most of the way so I could get a good look at everything. Lizie didn't seem to mind, and would squeeze my hand when I got particularly excited about something. I think she enjoyed having someone to show things to. We got books, scales, quills, robes at Madame Malkin's, and even an owl. He was the squattiest looking bird in Eyelops Owl Emporium, shorter than he was wide, black and grey feathers all crazy and strangely patterned, but the minute I saw him, I knew he was the one for me. He fluffed up his crooked looking feathers and cocked his head to the side as I walked by him as if to say, "Well hello there." The sign on his cage said he was on sale, but it didn't make any difference to me. I probably would have bought him if he had been the most expensive bird in the whole shop. I named him Hoggle and I had his cage clutched in one hand and a satchel of supplies in the other, slung over my shoulder. Lizie had a smaller version of the sack I was carrying and together, we trooped back to the cafe and flooed back to Lizie's ancient fireplace.

The next two months seemed like an eternity as I checked off the days before school started on a calendar I bought at the book store, Flourish and Blotts. When September first finally arrived, we woke up at the crack of dawn and loaded all of my clothes and supplies in a truck that Lizie had given me. It was dark green and bound with leather straps. A bit worn looking, but still in good condition, and had a charm on it that allowed for everything I had to fit into it with plenty room to spare. She also gave me a cloak, smooth and cool and surprisingly light weight, and she said it had belonged to my father and had been passed down from his father and so forth, and would render the wearer invisible. Although she warned me to be cautious with it's use, she also told me with a wink that it might come in handy. I tucked it into my train satchel and thanked Lizie.

Just full of surprises, Lizie also had an ancient old ford car parked in the barn, and we put my new trunk, Hoggle's cage, and my satchel in the boot, then climbed inside. It was very clean, despite the apparent age of the car, judging from the body style and interior, and the only thing that looked modern was a panel set into the center of the dash that appeared to be a GPS system with a series of complicated little buttons below. "Ready?" Lizie asked. "Ready." I said as she pushed a red button below the monitor on the dash and the engine roared to life.

It wasn't until we got out into the yard I realized we weren't driving. We were flying, hovering only a foot or two off the ground, but we were definitely airborne. Lizie grasped the steering wheel and pulled it towards herself and we rose up, up and up into the air until we were way above the house, which now appeared as just a tiny misshapen square. "Won't someone see us?" I asked as Lizie as she punched a series of the buttons and the screen lit up.

"Oh heavens, no, dear. There's an automatic invisibility booster that comes on the minute you start the engine." She punched a few more buttons before continuing, "Things have come a long way since your great great great grandmother's father enchanted his own Ford Anglia. But you'll see just how far soon enough." She finished with a wink. "It's been said he had a great interest in all things muggle, and enchanted his while he was taking it apart to see out it worked." She chuckled a bit as she pulled her wand out of the pocket of her enormous skirt and pointed it at the little screen. "Kings Cross Station. London." She said, and tapped the screen with her wand. A few short beeps emitted from the tiny monitor and there was a loud BANG, like the sound of a car backfiring. The sudden loud noise caused my eyes to squint shut for a brief second but when they popped back open, I couldn't believe was I saw. We were sitting in a crowded car park in front of the train station that just seconds ago had been nearly five hundred miles away. Lizie shut off the engine. "Close your mouth, dearie. It's not attractive to gape." She chuckled, then opened her door and stepped out around to the boot where my trunk and Hoggle were waiting.

It didn't take long to get everything loaded onto a cart, and before long we were wheeling it down platform nine headed for one of the pillars in-between that divided it and platform ten. "Now remember, just head straight for it and don't stop. I'll see you on the other side." We're Lizie's repeated instructions as I picked up a bit of speed with the cart and hurled it and myself straight at the pillar, popping out miraculously onto platform nine and three quarters. The scarlet steam engine I'd heard so much about from Lizie gleaming in the sunlight right in front of me. Lizie popped through the barrier moments later and helped me get my trunk and owl on the train. There were kids of all sorts climbing onto the train, their families waving at them from the platform, some with tears in their eyes, some with huge grins. The smiling faces of the first year students in the windows, catching a last glimpse of their parents and younger siblings before the train departed. "You're going to have a wonderful time and I'll see you at Christmas." Lizie said, hugging me tightly goodbye. I hugged her back just as tight and said, "Thank you so much for everything you've done for me, Lizie. I'm so glad we found each other."

We finished our goodbyes and I boarded the train, weaving around a cluster of third year girls down the first corridor until I found an empty compartment. I sank into the seat and exhaled. As excited as I was I was still a little nervous. Just six short months ago, I didn't even know that magic existed, and now here I was, on my way to school to learn everything there was to know about it. I smiled in spite of my nerves and pulled a book out of my satchel. After all, it was never too early to start learning.

Just as I cracked the brand new spine on "Hogwarts, A History", the compartment door slammed open and two fourth year boys waltzed through the open door talking to each other and plopped themselves down across from me. The first was average height, pleasant face, and looked a bit like he might need to lay off the meat pasties for a while. His sandy brown hair was a mop of half-curls and looked as if it hadn't seen a brush in years. The second, a bit taller than the first, had white blonde, closely cropped hair and a very angular face. They were both dressed in muggle clothes; t-shirts, khaki trousers and sneakers, and they continued the animated conversation they obviously started before they got on the train. "Are you serious? He though' he could pull tha' one again, did he?" The tall on said, in a rough Scottish accent. The second one just shook his head and grinned a bit in obvious amusement, his crazy mop of hair bouncing. "I know mate. Crazy bugger he was too. I bet Professor Cagney'll get 'im if he tries it again, though. You know he just won't let that stuff get by 'im." As he finished it was as if they just noticed that I was sitting across from them, book half covering my face as he said to me, "Well 'ello there. Sorry, didn't even no'ice you were there! I'm Daniel Hildegard and this 'ere is William Purvis." He nodded in the direction of the blonde kid who held out his hand. "Just Will's fine." He said. I shook his hand.

"I'm Julian Potter. It's nice to meet you both."

"Potter 'eh? No relation to the famous Harry Potter, by any chance?" Daniel asked.

"Apparently so, but I've only just found out myself. My parents, through no fault of their own, weren't really around to fill me in on my family history, but according to my grandmother, Harry is my great great great grandfather." I nodded my head to emphasize every great. "He was a great man, your great great great grandfather." Will said and I giggled a little. "But, I haven't seen you at Hogwarts before, and you're definitely too old to be a first year. Where are you from?" He asked.

"Well, it's a bit of a long story," I said, "but America actually. That and Scotland currently." I smiled. "Ol' William here is from Scotland." Daniel interjected.

"Of course she's already figured that one out, you grub head." Will said, rolling his eyes.

We talked for most of the train ride, the boys telling me all about Hogwarts and the professors, the rules and the food, the house elves and quidditch. They were both in Gryffindor house, boasting of it's superiority and the inferiority of their opposing quidditch team house, Slytherin. We were deep in conversation when the compartment door opened again and a tall dark haired girl wearing a prefect pin on her school robes. "Almost there, guys. Time to get dressed." She said and shut the door behind her as she left. "Right then." Will said, as he and Daniel stood up. "We'll see you at the feast, Julian." I pulled my new school robes out of my satchel as they shut the door.

"Here goes nothing." I said aloud, flipping the latch on the door so that I could change in privacy.


End file.
